Running With It
by Princess Pinky
Summary: A series of three standalone vignettes inspired by teasers released for the season seven finale, "The Name of The Doctor."
1. Our Time Runs Out

**A/N:** I've been reading teasers for "The Name of The Doctor" and I've been coming up with some theories for some of these teasers. After I typed them out, I was like, "Hot damn, I should just make them into vignettes," and tada! The title of the collection is poking fun at the cliché about "just running with an idea," but it's also a bit of a play on, "You watch us run!" So, here is your official spoiler (or rather, teaser) warning! Do not read if you do not want to be teased! The first vignette is based on a teaser from Blogtor Who last Saturday. (Look them up if you want to know which one. I don't want to spoil it by telling you at the top. :P) Also, each of these chapters are standalones, so it's not as if they're all meant to take place consecutively. They're just individual "what if?" ideas that were too small to be individual stories.

_**Running With It**_

**Our Time Runs Out**

It was the first time he'd seen her since The Library; the only time he'd ever seen her out-of-the-flesh. But she looked _so_ real, his River Song, the summation of all her thoughts and memories and adventures that they'd share and, for him, had yet to share. The soul was a nice thought, but the universe didn't have them. Time Lords, however, had managed to find a way to make the next best thing—The Matrix—and that's what he'd tried to do for his beloved.

"You know what you have to do," River told him. She looked corporeal, but every now and then, much like the entire time he'd loved her, she'd flicker in and out of existence.

"You were supposed to be s – safe," The Doctor choked. "I _saved_ you!" He never imagined that the Great Intelligence would be able to hack CAL's data core and download a copy of River's memory file; a file that they would then use to trick and trap his former companions with, irrevocably corrupting the original in the process.

"I sacrificed myself to save you and every soul in The Library. Today – today – today," she said, her voice glitching as her file flickered in and out, "a part of me – me – me almost spelt the end for so many innocent lives – lives that you love. I – I – I can't continue to exist as a threat. I _refuse_ to! I am done being used for the bidding of others." Holographic tears flickered down her cheeks. "Husband, I have a request: I'm dying and it's not your fault, but I can't bear it another day. Please…_help me._ There _isn't_ another way."

The Doctor closed the gap between them and lifted his hand to River's cheek. He felt nothing, no coolness, no warmth.

The image of her face flickered against his palm and River inclined her head, as if trying to feel the warmth from his fingertips.

"I'll suffer," he whispered, his voice so low it was nearly inaudible.

"I know."

"More than any living thing."

"_I. Know."_

"And I can't let you die without knowing you are loved…and by _no one_ more than _me_."

River lifted her hand to his neck, where he wore a purple bowtie. It wasn't hers. "Clip-ons," she said like satin, "they don't suit you." She attempted to touch it, but her fingers slipped through the fabric, causing her whole body to flash in and out once more.

The Doctor lifted his hand to his neck and peeled off the clip-on, then he dipped his hand into a concealed bigger-on-the-inside inner breast pocket of his coat and retrieved a long strip of blue fabric, entwined around a sonic screwdriver with a blue node.

River gasped, recognizing the sonic screwdriver that her beloved used in his tenth incarnation, the one she'd picnicked in Asgard with, who she'd last seen in person; the one who didn't know her. It was different though, larger, but it didn't yet have the dampers. "You've been designing a – a new…a new screwdriver," she said, though it was impossible to tell if the glitch was that of the CAL's system or her own.

The Doctor wrapped the bowtie under his collar and secured it into its traditional fashion at the base of his throat. He then pointed the screwdriver at his wife and the blue node turned red. "We'll have seconds."

River nodded. "I know, Sweetie."

The Doctor felt his weakness exploding down his cheeks. "I'll make it a good one."

"You better."

The sonic buzzed and a red wash fell across River's hologram, temporarily stabilizing her program and corporatizing her. She leaned in, her fingers grasping the edges of the bowtie one last time and straightening it for him as their lips touched and light exploded between them.


	2. Watch Us Run

**A/N:** This second vignette is inspired by a Radio Times teaser that was released on Monday and one of the recent spoiler pics from the episode. I'll be posting the last vignette tomorrow.

_**Running With It**_

**Watch Us Run**

"Hello, Sweetie."

Ice. That was what he stood on: a river of black ice. He knew that if he moved he'd slip right into her embrace, his resolve would crack and give way, and he would be consumed so completely that he'd never be able to find his way out again.

River curled her right hand around the curve of his cheek while using the other to tinker with his bowtie. She rose on her tiptoes, her red lips taking on the shape of a smoke ring. "You seem so tense. _Relax,_ Sweetie." Her hand caressed his chest, hovering over one heart and then the next. Soon it drifted beneath the flap of his coat and began to push the fabric off his shoulder.

The touches of her fingers burned like the raw kiss of dry ice, but the more painful, the more The Doctor craved it. For everything he'd done to River Song—Melody Pond—and her parents and every companion he'd ever had, he _deserved_ it. He felt like a doll as she guided his arms out of his jacket and shrugged it to the ground in a half-halo around them.

River tangled her fingers into his hair and bowed The Doctor's head towards her mouth. She kissed him roughly, nipping and biting and tender lips.

The Doctor groaned against the icicle pricks of her mouth. He tasted blood on his teeth, his tongue, then he felt her lips on his ear, whispering straight into ocean depths of his mind.

"Tell me how much you love me..."

The words came as a shock to his system, like jumping naked into a lake during the dead of winter. He suddenly grabbed her by the wrists and raked them down his chest, forcing River to the flats of her sandals so that he could stare down at her. He noticed a fine trail of white breath just beyond her crimson lips. "Who are you?"

"Sweetie, you know who I am."

"Don't play games with me! Who are you?!"

River clamped her mouth shut and her fists went rigid in his hands. "I'm your wife!"

"My wife is _dead_."

"You saved me, remember?" Her muscles relaxed and she rolled onto her toes. "You preserved everything. Every line."

The cuffs that his fingers had formed around her wrists fell apart, releasing her. Something hot riddled his chest. Not icy hot, but searing hot, like steam unable to escape a hooded pot. The Doctor pressed his hands to his hearts.

"It's been so long," River whispered. "Your feelings haven't changed, have they?"

The Doctor held River's gaze. "No. No, my feelings haven't changed. They'll always feel this way."

"And what way is that?" River asked, her breath coming out in faint white puffs.

"I love River…"

She smiled and pitched towards him.

"…but You're. Not. Her!" The Doctor gripped River by the throat and squeezed until a puff of frozen air popped between her lips and her face transformed into something ghost colored and faceless aside from its red mouth and spindly teeth. The Whisperman dissolved into haze of frozen air in his hand and The Doctor realized he was surrounded.

The room turned arctic. He could see the trails of breath freezing as they left his nose and mouth, and suddenly there was whiteness. Everywhere. The Whispermen blurred into the falling snowflakes and in the place where River had stood, there was now an aged stone that contained two words. The Doctor slipped and was soon on his knees, face-to-text with the words: _River Song_.

He faintly brushed the words with his fingers and soon snow began to fall across them too, burying her. The Doctor scrambled to brush the flurries away, but the snow transformed into a blizzard and his wife was lost to him. His tears didn't even have a chance to fall, for they froze while in his eyes.

"Run."

The Doctor dropped his head to the top of the snow sheeted gravestone. He shook it until his skin hurt from the stone scraping against it.

"Run!"

It was another of the Whispermen's tricks, he knew. It was her voice, but it wasn't _her_. He didn't have the will to fight it again though, so he chose not to look at her.

"Doctor, My Doctor…this once – just this once, run! Please, you have to run!"

_My Doctor._

The Doctor lifted his head and saw her standing in front of the TARDIS, his wife. Not sinister and seductive like before, but genuine and pleading. _"River?"_

"Skyped in you might say," River smiled. "The TARDIS was desperate, she said you needed a little help."

"She – she interfaced you," he realized, projecting River in hologram form from The Library's data core. "Oh, that's brilliant!"

"Not if you don't get your Gallifreyan rear into the TARDIS! You're surrounded by Whispermen and you still have companions to save." River turned towards the door and snapped her fingers. The doors opened, outwards.

The Doctor wanted nothing more than to reach out and grab her hand, but he knew he couldn't. "Run with us."

River stepped backwards through the doors, motioning for him to follow.

The Doctor suddenly toppled over as the gravestone vanished along with the snow. The Whispermen remained, but they were howling and moving away from him and the TARDIS. "You can't whisper your bittersweet nothings in my ear if I already have them," he announced. The Doctor pushed off the ground and ran into the TARDIS, the doors clanging behind him.

River was already at the console, pulling and pressing at gears as she always did when she took the wheel. This time, she wasn't actually driving, the TARDIS was, but she was happy to go through the motions anyway, and The Doctor reveled in seeing her do it.

"One last run, you and me."

River glanced up as the TARDIS's breaks began to grind into the time vortex. "Watch us run!"


	3. Running To You

**A/N:** Final vignette! This one was inspired by a Cult Box teaser quote that was released on Thursday.

_**Running With It**_

**Running To You**

"So that's it then? We just saved the universe again, just like that?"

The Doctor dashed around the console, pulling levers and pressing buttons and yanking chains. "That, Clara Oswald, is What. We. Do."

Clara grinned and charged up to the console to join him. "So, where do we go now?"

The Doctor angled his head back at the time rotor which gleamed mint green upon his face and the lights along the circular walls began to flash. "Sexy knows where to go, don't you, Dear?"

"_Sexy?"_ Clara deadpanned.

"Sexy!" The Doctor chirped. "That's her name, isn't it, Old Girl?" He caressed the time rotor and the brakes groaned.

"So, Sexy _and_ a wife?" Clara continued, the toes of her shoes stabbing the backs of The Doctor's boots as she followed so closely behind him.

"I couldn't trust you before," The Doctor explained unremorsefully. "A trick? A trap? I didn't realize what or who you were. Met you twice and you died both times! Do you realize how often someone tries to put me in a trap? I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not. I couldn't tell you about the most important woman in my life if you were out to harm her. Again."

"Again?"

The Doctor sighed and dropped his head to his chest. "River is – River is a complicated space-time event."

"And this is_ your_ fault?"

"Yes, good." He tapped his companion on the top of her head. "Clever you. It's a long explanation though and–" The TARDIS landed with a jolt that sent him sprawling across to the railing, closest to the doors, while Clara was sent in the opposite direction.

Clara glared up at the rotating circles of Gallifreyan on the ceiling. "You did that on purpose," she hissed under her breath.

The Doctor, oblivious to the confrontation, wobbled down to the doors and threw them open.

Clara raced down to follow, but stopped abruptly in the doorframe when she saw the woman on the other side: River Song. The Doctor's wife. Even with River's back to her, that head of curls was unmistakable.

"Honey, I'm home!"

River spun around with a wicked smirk on her lips. "And what sort of time do you call this?"

Clara's brows knit together and she could feel the TARDIS vibrating beneath her touch. "You're enjoying this," she whispered. "You – you _like _her!"

"Of course she likes River!" The Doctor singsonged. "She's the Child of the TARDIS. And River Song. And _my wife!_" He placed his hand to her hip and pulled her towards him.

"Sweetie, what is wrong on with you?" River said, her eyes shifting suspiciously between her husband and Clara.

"Something happened today and it made me realize I've been running in the wrong direction, Dear. I sincerely apologize for that. Can you ever forgive this stupid old man?"

River hooked her hands around the back of his neck. The smirk on her face was gone. "Husband, you know that you're forgiven. Always and completely. Now, come here, you!"

Clara heard the TARDIS's engine rev and she rolled her eyes. "The Child of the TARDIS? Figures as much." She gazed at the kissing couple and smiled anyway. "She does suit him though. I should've known." When the TARDIS's engine immediately grew louder, she swatted the door.

"Be nice," River gently scolded as she strode past Clara into the TARDIS.

The Doctor followed behind his wife like a giddy puppy.

"Look at you," River praised the ship. "I like the new desktop."

Clara pulled her hand away just before the door could close on her fingers. She rubbed them instinctively, then noticed River was at the console, performing the tasks that The Doctor usually did, though with considerably less bumbling. "Doctor?" she intoned. "What is she doing?"

"Taking off," River replied without looking up.

"Child of the TARDIS," Clara repeated to herself. "Of course she can fly the TARDIS."

"I can teach you, if you like."

Clara looked between The Doctor and River. "O-okay," she said, trotting up to the console. "But the last time he tried to teach me –"

"Here's your first instruction: don't let him teach you." River took Clara's hand and guided it to one of the levers. "Pull this and twist that," she said, pointing to something that looked like a piece of a pinball machine.

"Clara piloted the TARDIS twice before," The Doctor said, poking his head between River's and Clara's.

"Actually," Clara admitted, "she really piloted herself, I just hung on."

"That's what she just told me," River said, eyeing the time rotor. "More or less."

"More or less? You can talk to her with without the hologram?"

River clapped her hands together. "Pull and twist," she said without answering.

Clara did as instructed and, to her surprise, she felt the TARDIS move without lurching. She looked at River and nodded, impressed. "So, do you have a destination in mind then?" The lights suddenly shut down, leaving on only the red warning lights. The Cloister Bell began to ding too. "Wh – what does that mean?"

River and The Doctor exchanged almost orgasmic expressions.

The lights returned and from the other side of the console a skinny man in a blue suit and red trainers emerged. He also happened to be wearing a cone shaped hat, as if he was ready for a child's birthday party. He stopped abruptly when he saw River, Clara, and The Doctor. "What?"

"What?" The Doctor echoed.

"_What?"_

Clara blinked. "But–"

"Hello, Sweetie!" River grinned. She slipped in between the tenth and eleventh incarnations of her husband and touched the birthday hat on the Tenth's head. "I presume we have a birthday to get to? Don't let him get a hold of that," she said, nodding to the Eleventh Doctor.

"River," the Tenth Doctor said slowly. He looked towards his future self for an explanation.

The Eleventh Doctor rubbed his hands together excitedly. "I don't remember this, so that means it should be good! And quite possibly extremely dangerous!"

River bit the tip of her tongue between her teeth and plopped down in the pilot's seat.

Clara wandered over to stand next to River, watching as The Doctors examined themselves and began to bicker about their clothing choices.

"I am _not_ raggedy! And a bowtie? _Really?_"

"Bowties are cool!"

River leaned towards Clara. "The mind races, does it not?"

The TARDIS shook again, sending both Doctors thudding against the console. The Gallifreyan clogs on the ceiling began to move and The Doctors eyed each other with a sudden excitement, forgetting their argument for the time being.

"Allons-y?"

"_Geronimo!"_


End file.
